German police launched an investigation into sympathizers of the PKK terrorist organization after the group staged public protests in the city of Dortmund, authorities reported Wednesday.
About 320 PKK supporters held demonstrations in the city, and 25 people from the group verbally confronted others nearby. The situation was brought under control because of police intervention, authorities said, adding that the state security service was aware of the images circulating on social media and also used them in their probe.
The images shared online show a group of PKK supporters attacking one or more people with flagpoles and destroying property. The Dortmund police demanded an investigation into the physical violence and the disturbance of peace, urging witnesses to contact authorities.
The PKK is classified as an "ethno-nationalist" and "separatist" terrorist organization by the EU's law enforcement agency, EUROPOL, and has been banned in Germany since 1993.
But it remains active in the country with nearly 14,500 followers among the Kurdish immigrant population.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency, BfV, warned in its annual report that the PKK remains the largest foreign extremist group in the country and its followers can carry out violent attacks if they receive instructions from group leaders abroad.
Türkiye has long called on its NATO ally Germany to take stronger action against the PKK and its Syrian affiliate, the YPG, stressing that the terrorist groups use Germany as a platform for fundraising, propaganda and recruitment activities.
Several reports from Turkish and international law enforcement agencies have shown the group is able to finance its bloody terrorist campaign through drug trafficking in the European Union, raking in over $1.5 billion annually. It relies on its supporters and pro-PKK political groups across Europe.
Europol's EU Terrorism Situation & Trend Report also revealed that the group maintained "an apparatus that provided logistical and financial support to its operatives in Türkiye and neighboring countries and promoted its political objectives." This apparatus mainly operated under the guise of legally recognized entities, such as Kurdish associations, it added.
With the group’s supporters openly protesting and engaging in arson in major European cities last weekend, Türkiye has been alarmed again over terrorists and their backers being free to walk the streets.
Just last Friday, the group’s supporters took to the streets of Paris to hold a so-called protest after a 69-year-old gunman with a "pathological" hatred for foreigners opened fire on a cultural center and nearby hair salon, killing at least three people and wounding three others in an area home to a large Kurdish community.
PKK supporters gathered in the area hours later and a violent clash with the police ensued where 31 officers were injured and dozens of public properties were damaged.
Supporters of the terrorist group disrupted peace again on Saturday, this time in London, in another violent encounter with police. Gathering in front of the French Embassy in London, a group of the terrorist group's proponents chanted slogans against Türkiye and France over the Paris shooting.
For its part, Türkiye reminded Europe on Sunday of the threat posed by the PKK.
"Everyone must see the PKK terrorist group’s true face now," Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Sunday. "They saw how troublesome it is to help and enable terrorists."
In its over 40 years of attacks on Türkiye, the PKK has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.